Tuesday, March 31, 2015, 1:16 p.m.

Sandy Hook kids face first classes since shooting

By The Associated Press

This article was published January 3, 2013 at 7:10 a.m.

PHOTO BY AP/JESSICA HILL

A woman hugs a child before he boards a bus on the first day of classes after the holiday break, in Newtown, Conn., on Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. Children from Sandy Hook Elementary School returned to school Thursday in the neighboring town of Monroe.

MONROE, Conn.  The Newtown schools superintendent says preparations have been made for a "normal" day, yet it will likely be anything but that when classes resume for Sandy Hook Elementary School students for the first time since a gunman killed 20 of their classmates.

With their original school still being treated as a crime scene, the students will begin attending classes at a refurbished school in the neighboring town of Monroe on Thursday. Law enforcement officers have been guarding the new school, and by the reckoning of police, it is "the safest school in America."

Still, Newtown Superintendent Janet Robinson said, officials will do their best to make the students feel at ease.

"We will go to our regular schedule," she said. "We will be doing a normal day."

On Wednesday, the students and their families were welcomed at an open house at their new school, which was formerly the Chalk Hill Middle School in Monroe but renamed as the Sandy Hook Elementary School. Students received gift boxes with toys inside and shared joyful reunions with teachers.